''Started raking in the cage and we carried it over out on the
field,'' Black said before giving long pause, followed by a deadpan
''no,'' while trying to contain a smile.

''I thought all night long the guys had really good at-bats,''
he said after the laughter died down. That was probably, obviously,
the best offensive night we had all year.''

Jesus Guzman hit a two-run double in a four-run third to help
the Padres rebound from being swept in a three-game series in St.
Louis. Everth Cabrera had a career-high four hits and Eric Stults
(1-0) pitched five innings to earn his first win with San
Diego.

Fielding a lineup in which the 6-7-8 batters all had averages
under .200, the Padres set a season-high for runs and had their
best effort for hits with 18. Cabrera was just 2 for 21 coming in.
Nick Hundley homered in the ninth to give every position player at
least one hit.

''It was very encouraging just to see up and down the lineup to
see the quality of at-bats the guys had,'' Hundley said. Watching
guys like Will and Cabby and Chase just battle and grind. ... It's
starting to come a little bit.''

Both starters wearing No. 53 returned to the mound following a
delay of 1 hour, 8 minutes after the second inning. Stults adjusted
better than Jeremy Hefner (0-2), shutting down the Mets for three
more innings.

Stults might have gone longer but he was hit by a comebacker on
his triceps on the final out of the fourth inning and Black said
that it started bothering Stults on breaking pitches after the
fifth.

''I think it should be OK,'' Stults said.

David Wright hit a two-run homer off Matt Palmer in the sixth
and he finished 3 for 5 to raise his average to .405 in the first
game of the Mets' season-long 11-game homestand.

''He's in a zone like no other,'' Mets manager Terry Collins
said. ''His whole approach, I mean, you watch him get ready before
a game starts. He's got a routine he sticks with. He believes in it
and he gets himself ready to play.''

Hefner was making his first big league start - against the team
that drafted and signed him in 2007, when New York's current GM
Sandy Alderson was running the Padres. Hefner twice chose college
over signing with the Mets after they picked him in the 2004 and
`05 drafts.

Alderson got Hefner back this winter off the waiver wire from
Pittsburgh, which had the right-hander for a month.

Pitching in the rain from the start, Hefner gave up a hit in two
innings and the Mets led 1-0 on an unearned run when the rain
picked up and the tarp came out. Play resumed 1 hour, 8 minutes
later.

''I hadn't experienced that in my career and so I didn't really
have anything to base it off of. I felt fine,'' Hefner said about
pitching after the long delay. ''After the second inning, from then
on, I didn't execute my pitches.''

He promptly gave up a double down the third base line to Cabrera
to restart the game. After Stults grounded out, the Padres scored
four times on four straight hits.

Venable slapped an opposite-field RBI double just inside third
base, Maybin had a run-scoring single, Yonder Alonso doubled and
Guzman drove in two runs with a double for a 4-1 lead.

Venable and Maybin had RBI hits with two outs in fourth, ending
Hefner's night. Venable finished with two hits a night after coming
up a triple shy of the cycle.

Hefner gave up nine hits and six runs.

Stults gave up one hit after the wait. Overall, he allowed an
unearned run and four hits in five innings. He was claimed off
waivers by the Padres from the Chicago White Sox on May 17.

With 13 players on the disabled list, including starters Tim
Stauffer, Cory Luebke and Dustin Moseley, Stults has been a nice
addition for San Diego. In his first start, he allowed two runs and
four hits in 6 2-3 innings.

With Stults out, the Mets tried mounting a rally. Wright's homer
to straightaway center field cut the lead to 6-3 and Scott Hairston
followed with a single. But Brad Brach relieved and struck out the
side.

The Mets scored a run in the second on Hundley's throwing
error.

Ronny Cedeno batted leadoff for the fifth time in his eight-year
career. He went 0 for 5.

NOTES: Mets manager Terry Collins said struggling 1B Ike Davis
would not be sent to the minors to work on his swing. He said he'd
be more selective in the matchups he chooses for Davis, who entered
Thursday's game hitting .159 (23 for 145). Davis had a two-run
pinch-hit single in the eighth... About 10 of Alonso's teammates
watched his appearances on the MLB channel before batting practice.
They gave him a round of applause when the interview was over. ...
NYPD Officer Kevin Brennan, who was shot in the head Jan. 31, threw
out the ceremonial first pitch.

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